


talking in your sleep

by frozenasphalt



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Sleeptalking, also i'm Not Funny, dumb horror movie/series references, horror sort of? this isn't scary, lapslock, this is.......ridiculous, wow i wrote something that's not porn for once i'm pattin mYSELF ON THE BACK YA'LL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:18:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8329363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozenasphalt/pseuds/frozenasphalt
Summary: chanyeol talks in his sleep. jongin is terrified.





	

**Author's Note:**

> hey stop by my tumblr @frozenasphalt and send me prompts please!!

the first time it happens, jongin damn near goes into cardiac arrest.

chanyeol screams at the top of his lungs like he's being stabbed and the sound catapults jongin out of his dreams and into a sweaty panic. heart barreling against his chest, jongin sits up and looks over at his boyfriend. he's an equally sweaty mess of flailing limbs, stretched over on jongin's side of the bed and as jongin goes to move, chanyeol kicks him in the shin hard enough to bruise, his screeching drowning out jongin's wails of pain.

“what is it? what's wrong?” jongin asks, wincing as he rubs at his throbbing leg.

“centipedes." chanyeol yells. "centipedes!”

horrified, jongin mario-leaps out of bed and turns on the light. they’ve had a centipede problem in the past; jongin abhorred the creatures and had called an exterminator who he thought had taken care of it.

“where?!” jongin lifts the covers in search of the creepy culprits. he thinks he sees one and there's a dip in his forehead when he realizes it's just chanyeol’s scraggly-ass legs splayed against their crisp white bed sheets.

it takes several more seconds of chanyeol’s screaming (which eventually dwindles to incoherent mumbling) for jongin to realize that’s his boyfriend isn’t even awake.

is he having a nightmare?

“big daddy centipedes," chanyeol mutters.

"...big daddy centipedes?"

"big daddy centipedes crawling out of my ass! aahhhh!”

_yup._

disbelief deflates jongin like a dancing carwash balloon. his elevated heart beat trickles back to normal and he watches the idiot-- _his_  idiot--flail until he turns over and stills, falling silent.

since when did chanyeol sleep-talk?

 

it occurs again two nights later. when he'd returned home, jongin found chanyeol already sound asleep, a moat of chunky medical books surrounding him, his glasses lopsided. jongin smiled at the sight; his hard working doctor-to-be still managed to look like a cute, baby-faced angel when he slept. and after straightening up and tucking chanyeol into the duvet more comfortably, jongin flopped down into bed.

drained from a long work shift, jongin had drifted into slumber as soon as his head hit his pillow.

he's startled awake by chanyeol jerking upright, unbridled.

“it’s watching us from the window right now,” chanyeol says shakily.

turning over, jongin groans in question and rubs at his eyes. “what?" he croaks. chanyeol gives no response, just stares at the window on his side of the room. "chanyeol? chanyeol! wake up.” reaching over, jongin taps chanyeol on the shoulder. when that doesn't work, he waves a hand in front of chanyeol’s face.

he's asleep.

with force, jongin shakes his boyfriend by the shoulders but chanyeol remains glued to the spot, a powered-down robot. curiosity beckons jongin out of bed and toward the window but before he can make it across the room, chanyeol traps his arm in a death grip.

“don’t look. that's what it wants you to do.”

jongin's eyes widen and his hair stands on end. chanyeol has him genuinely scared now.

seconds later, chanyeol unhands jongin and lies back down, fast asleep before jongin can even process what just happened.

jongin swears chanyeol just took a good ten fucking years off of his life.

 

this time around, the clock reads three a.m when jongin is roused from sleep.

witching hour.

jongin looks beside him and sees chanyeol cowering and curled into the headboard like a frightened child.

"just leave," he shouts at a dark corner of the room, frantic. "we don't want you here! leave!”

terror plummets low in jongin's stomach and he freezes where he lays, lifts his head up slowly to look toward the corner. his eyes meet nothing but darkness and he curses himself for being such a coward. of course there's nothing there. what had he expected to see?

this entire situation is getting out of hand and jongin doesn't know how much more of it he can endure. at this rate, his hair will be gray before his twentieth birthday. he studies chanyeol, who is still cowering, before he decides to close his eyes and ignore him; he'll go to sleep soon enough. these episodes never last for more than a few minutes. 

but then chanyeol slips his hand into jongin's, laces their fingers together and squeezes tight, palm soaked with sweat. jongin's body goes rigid as he awaits whatever's coming next.

"don't move." chanyeol whisper-yells, voice deeper than normal. "it's in bed with us now."

fingers still intertwined with jongin's, chanyeol goes quiet, dead to the world not a minute later. jongin doesn't get much sleep that night at all.

 

 

“you’ve been sleep talking a lot lately. it’s so scary i might die," jongin tells chanyeol over coffee the next day. they've managed to grab lunch together for the first time in months. both of their schedules are impossibly hectic. "i’ve been thinking of investing in some salt, holy water and sage for the house. or maybe like a fucking exorcist or something because i’m pretty sure you’ve been conversing with _actual_ demons.”

chanyeol chokes on his latte. his eyes widen but there's a dumb curl to his lips as he holds a hand to his face in shock. “ah, i’m sorry! how long has this been going on?"

"almost a week now."

"a week?" he parrots. "why didn't you tell me sooner? you should've woken me up right when it started.”

“you sleep like an actual rock? trying to wake you up was futile. and i think this is the first time we've actually seen each other outside of the bedroom in like, two months.”

chanyeol chews on the inside of his cheek. "hm. good point." he takes a drawn out, noisy sip of his drink. "you should record it next time."

"between you trying to fight me and waiting for a demon to kill us both, it was kind of hard to remember my phone."

"i tried to fight you?!"

"no. but i do have a bruise the size of russia on my leg thanks to your flailing." pouting more than he means to, jongin shows chanyeol the picture he'd taken on his phone of his splotched skin. 

chanyeol has his hands over his mouth and he looks like he might cry. "oh my god. i'm so _so_ sorry, babe. i didn't mean to hurt you, shit."

jongin deletes the picture. “i'll live." there's an urge to sit next to chanyeol on his side of the booth and plant kisses on his cheek, so jongin does just that. chanyeol brightens up. "but have you had problems with sleep talking before?”

“not since like, fifth grade. i never thought it would resurface. should i be worried?”

jongin runs a hand through chanyeol's fringe. it's gotten too long. “you’ve been super stressed as of late," he says with a soft, reassuring smile. "that's probably all it is." 

"you're right," chanyeol chuckles, mirroring jongin's positivity. he rests his head on jongin's shoulder. "we've both been busy. we need a vacation. or something."

jongin hums his agreement. too bad that wish wouldn't be coming true any time soon. as the day goes on, he pores over other solutions for this inconvenience in his head.

 

that night after a grueling evening class, jongin decides to stop by the store before heading home and picks up a bag of calming bath salts and a few sticks of incense. these should do the trick. he runs a bath and lights the incense for chanyeol immediately upon arriving home and snorts when he finds the over-sized nerd attempting to do yoga on their bedroom floor.

"y'know," chanyeol breathes as he comes out of his sloppily executed dolphin pose. "i _have_ been watching a lot of horror movies. maybe that has something to do with it?”

jongin shakes his head. “horror is the only genre we ever watch. it's your favorite. i mean, you laughed all the way through 'the exorcist''? and i've literally watched you fall asleep with 'the texas chainsaw massacre' as background noise. horror has never affected you like this. like i said, i think you're stressed. and sleep deprived. i ran you a bath, so. go enjoy it and hurry and get to bed, okay?"

"mmhm. thanks, babe." chanyeol singsongs, bouncing up and down. he plants a kiss on the tip of jongin's nose before he disappears into the bathroom and jongin sighs, rolling his tense shoulders. he hopes this helps.

maybe he should take a bath, too.

(he sprinkles a pinch of salt underneath chanyeol's pillow before heading to join his boyfriend in the tub, just in case).

 

jongin is frolicking through the streets of london hand in hand with chanyeol, with no work, no school, no obligations. that is until he's literally yanked from his dream by muscular arms that grab him from behind, a hand clasped tightly over his mouth. jongin curses against chanyeol's skin as he watches him lift a shaky finger to point toward the same dark corner he'd been yelling at the other night.

"do you see it, barb?"

barb?

"the demogorgon. it's...it's here."

jongin actually bursts into a fit of ugly laughter because  _what the fuck_.

 

("maybe it _does_ have something to do with the stuff you're watching," jongin suggests over the phone the next morning. "i think you had a 'stranger things' themed dream last night. you called me barb? which is insulting, by the way. i'm _so_ not barb. if anyone, i'm eleven."

"what makes you think that?"

"because i'm cool as hell and i'm everyone's fave."

chanyeol scoffs but jongin can hear the smile in his voice. "you're deluded.")

 

chanyeol's hands are gesturing so madly that he almost elbows jongin dead in the teeth.

"el diablo! el diablo está debajo de la cama!" chanyeol chants, repeating the phrase several times over. jongin gets out his phone, doubled over in ab-building snickering as he opens snapchat to record a video that he sends to half of his contacts because chanyeol doesn't even speak spanish.

 

it's nearly two a.m but jongin is still up, studying for a class he despises. he moves from his desk and into bed, rubs at his temples and slaps himself lightly against the cheek to keep himself from dozing off. again. exhaling, he glances down at chanyeol, sound asleep beside him and titters as he lets out a quiet fart.

with a sharp intake of air through his nostrils, chanyeol bolts upright. " _GOOD GOD_ CHARLES," he barks in a British accent. "THEY'RE DROPPING THE FUCKING BOMBS! RUN FOR COVER!"

jongin swears he punctures a lung from laughing. who the hell is charles?

 

a touch of dawn filters through the curtains in sepia tones as strong arms wrap around jongin's waist and pull him in close. jongin hums and stretches his arms straight out in front of him, shrouded in sleepy bliss, and melts into the touch.

chanyeol peppers a stream of kisses down jongin's spine, his breath a pleasant shiver against his skin. "you're gonna nail that test today, baby," he rasps and jongin is suddenly very much awake. "you’re so smart. smart and sexy, sexy and smart." 

jongin giggles and turns around to face chanyeol. he cups his face in both hands, pressing a kiss to his lips. “thanks, but my test isn’t until friday.”

the only response he's met with is the sound of soft snoring. jongin frowns so hard his mouth hurts.

he lets out a strangled sound as chanyeol proceeds to kick him (and his pillow) off of the bed, then wrap himself in all the covers and snore like an _actual_ dragon.

“are you shitting me?!”

 

on this particular night, chanyeol sits up looking less scared and more like a confused turtle, neck stretched in search for something he's seemed to have lost. he feels around for his phone, opens it, sends jongin a text that reads 'ashj gayby cake', and plops right back down on his pillow. jongin screenshots the message on sight and sends the picture back over to him.

( **to: hubby ♡**

**[14:31]**

**"gayby cake"?? what even? how did i even???? was i possesed or just high????**

**to: loml**

**[15:10]**

**yea. high on this dick lmao :b**

**to: gayby cake**

**[15:55]**

**-.- just 4 that, i saved u as gayby cake in my contacts**

**to: loml**

**[15:58]**

**omfg** )

 

after that, the sleep-talking comes to an abrupt hault all together for a good month or so. jongin doesn't know why a part of him misses it. it's a selfish thought, he knows this, so he forgets it. it means chanyeol is less stressed out and that's all that should matter to him.

 

jongin is smiling like an idiot when it happens again. 

"no," chanyeol whines. there's an indent in his face from the way he slept, drool dried on the side of his mouth and jongin thinks he looks adorable. "my boyfriend is cuter than yours, you shit. _way_ cuter!" jongin all but breaks his finger opening snapchat. "don't argue this. my guy's the cuter-est. no contest. WHAT, YOU WANNA _GO_ , FAM?" he turns, squares up with no one and starts fighting the wall, punching it weakly.

jongin is vibrating with amusement.

 

they're cuddled up on the couch, re-watching 'american horror story: hotel' on netflix with hot coffee and warm sweaters and as he lays against chanyeol's chest, jongin sighs contently for the hundredth time that afternoon. partly because moments like this are rare and to be savored, but mostly because evan peters as james march is his absolute favorite.

chanyeol opts for scrolling through his phone whenever march appears on screen because "march is nasty and tate will _forever_ be bae" (they've fought over this on more than one occasion).

“what the hell is this?" chanyeol asks, gawking at his phone, just as march is slicing a woman open. jongin briefly glances at chanyeol's phone screen and recognizes the snap he posted last night.

"oh," jongin says. "you're just _now_ seeing that?"

"you posted it to your story? without telling me?”

“well, yeah. it was hilarious. and cute as shit."

“my pain is funny to you? this is abuse.” chanyeol sticks his bottom lip out and jongin pokes him in the side. when he doesn't get a reaction, jongin kisses chanyeol on the lips languidly.

"sorry," jongin says when they pull apart. chanyeol's pout turns into a toothy grin.

"hah, joke's on you because the doctor said the sleep talking was brought on by the medicine i was taking so he switched my prescription. it stopped like a month ago. i was just fucking with you last night."

"you absolute _ass_!" jongin attacks chanyeol with titty twisters and doesn't quit until chanyeol begs him to.

"you _are_ the cuter-est, though," chanyeol tells him after he's finished being dramatic.

"damn right."

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by this tumblr post [x](http://uhrair.tumblr.com/post/150680516620/uhrair-my-boyfriend-talks-in-his-sleep-and-i)


End file.
